The much-awaited Kolkata to Hong Kong direct flight by Dragonair is likely to miss its October schedule. The sister airline of Cathay Pacific Airways anticipates a delayed beginning of the service, as Kolkata airport’s integrated terminal is far from meeting its October deadline for completion.
According to Mr Rakesh Raicar, Regional Sales and Marketing Manager South Asia, Dragonair, the company is awaiting a ‘definite’ date to start operations from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
“We wanted to begin operations from October. But, we still have to work with them requiring a definite start date. We will be meeting the officials from airport authority next week to decide whether they want to postpone,” Mr Raicar told
It will be an uphill task for the AAI to finish 90 per cent of the construction work for the terminal by August. Besides, equipment installation and shifting of operations, are likely to take several months pushing the deadline further, according to sources.
Mr B. P. Sharma, Director of Kolkata airport, didn’t respond to repeated calls and messages in this regard.
Earlier in May, Mr Tom Wright, General Manger, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Dragonair, claimed that the carrier was confident of the market in India and this new service to Kolkata would be important to build Dragonair’s presence here after its first service to Bangalore in 2008.
Airport modernisation
The nearly Rs 2,500-crore Kolkata airport modernisation programme, carried out by the Thai-Indian consortium of ITD-ITD Cementation, was earlier slated to be completed by August 2011. Later, it was revised twice to May 2012 and October 2012.